Wasted Money

I see that the Department of Labor, not to be outdone by other federal departments in Extreme Chainsaw Activity, has done The Right Thing:

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has canceled nearly $600 million in grants to foreign countries in another round of major funding cuts.

John Clark, a DOL official appointed by President Donald Trump, directed the department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) to axe all 69 of its active grant programs on Wednesday due to a “lack of alignment with agency priorities and national interest.”

Quite what the Department of Labor was doing in giving money to furriners in the first place… well, we all know the answer to that one.  [humming the tune to “The Internationale”]

And seeing as the U.S. is no longer part of the international socialist collective — or at least we’re heading in that direction, at long last — there’s no reason for us to fund the wellbeing of foreign workers anyway.

One particular item did catch my attention, though:

“$3 million for ‘safe and inclusive work environments’ in Lesotho”

I’ve been to Lesotho several times, know the place quite well in fact, and for three million bucks you could probably buy the country’s entire industrial infrastructure, pay the workers a fat cash bonus and still have some money left over to  gamble  invest in a couple of their casinos.

Of “$3 million to ‘enhance social security access and worker protections for internal migrant workers’ in Bangladesh”, we will not speak.  (It’s a Muslim country;  let the fucking Arabs pay for it.)

Similar arguments can be made for all the other useless items.  Read the article for the full flavor of the wastage, and if you have specific knowledge of the circumstances of any of them, feel free to comment.

In the meantime:

Be Still, My Beating Heart

From the Trump Administration:

Attorney General Pam Bondi warned against committing acts of vandalism or terrorism against Tesla products or other Elon Musk-owned properties.

Bondi said those committing those acts would face the full brunt of federal law enforcement without the possibility of plea agreements.

That thumping noise you hear is that of my heart, having burst right out of my ribcage, doing a

around the house.

Quote Of The Day

From Ward Clark, talking about POTUS’s latest effort to clean up the voting process and the reaction of ILGov Fatboi Pritzker thereto:

“No Democrat, anywhere, objects to someone being required to not only show ID but also to undergo a background check to buy a firearm.  But to show an ID to verify citizenship for voter registration, or to actually vote, it seems, is a bridge too far.”

Of course.  And the Socialists have to have illegal voters and fraudulent ballots in the process because most sane Americans — U.S. citizens — think that Democrats are a bunch of loonies and would rather vote for a dead skunk than a Democrat and their insane, unnatural and unworkable policies.  (I read somewhere that some Democrat pollster discovered that if all registered voters in the country had been forced to go to the 2024 polls at gunpoint, Trump would have won the popular vote not by 1.7% but by over 5%.  No wonder they’re panicking.)

But you all knew that.

Unequal Treatment

I see that OzPM Anthony “Commie Rat” Albanese has invited President Trump to visit that mouse-infested shithole of a country.

Of course, the POTUS wouldn’t experience anything like the Kafka-esque nightmare of trying to visit Strylia that ensnares ordinary folks (like me) — no “visitor’s visa” necessary for him, oh no — and of course he has his own airliner to get there which means he doesn’t have to endure the total assholiness of Qantarse (see here and here, for just two reasons never to fly on their poxy airline).

I don’t see that there’s much benefit for Trump to go there, anyway — especially as their governing political party are a bunch of steaming Commies who make our Democrats look like ultra-capitalists by comparison.

Fukkem.

Quote Of The Day

From John Nolte:

“A public that had come to sympathize with the bigotry and treatment of homosexuals no longer feels that same goodwill. After all, we were told that gay people just wanted to be left alone, to be allowed to live and let live. That turned out to be a big, fat lie. In about six seconds we went from, How does my same-sex marriage affect you, to openly targeting little kids with grooming, gay porn in elementary schools, drag queens reading to kids, boys playing in girls’ sports, men barging into women’s bathrooms and locker rooms, and this monstrous push to permanently mutilate children as sacrifices to the trans gods.”

Phrases such as “camel’s nose”, “thin end of the wedge” and “slippery slope” come to mind.

Yet Another Tax

So Britishland is going to implement a wealth tax — whereby one is taxed (annually) not just upon income, but upon one’s total “wealth”, including such things as property.

How do I know this?  From this statement by their Labour Government:

A minister has opened the door to Labour introducing a wealth tax at some point amid pressure from backbenchers to change course ahead of sweeping welfare cuts.

Emma Reynolds said that the Government would reject demands for a 2 per cent levy “for the time being” but did not rule out such a tax at future financial events.

If you’re at all familiar with politician-speak, “did not rule out”  means “we’re gonna do it, and sooner than you think”.

And lest you think this villainy is confined to places across The Pond, be aware that it’s a staple position among the Wealth Envious (i.e. most Democrats) Over Here as well.

Step forward, Sen. Pocahantas Warren:

The wealth tax is a cousin of the property tax, but it encompasses all forms of wealth: cash, stocks, jewelry, thoroughbred horses, jets, everything. Warren calls the policy her “Ultra-Millionaire Tax.” It would impose a 2% federal tax on every dollar of a person’s net worth over $50 million and an additional 1% tax on every dollar in net worth over $1 billion. Economists estimate it would hit the 75,000 richest households and raise $2.75 trillion over ten years.

The minute you hear the “t” word (“trillion”) applied to tax revenue, you can see the Socialists’ ears prick up.

Now here’s the fun part.

In 1990, twelve countries in Europe had a wealth tax. Today, there are only three: Norway, Spain, and Switzerland. According to reports by the OECD and others, there were some clear themes with the policy: it was expensive to administer, it was hard on people with lots of assets but little cash, it distorted saving and investment decisions, it pushed the rich and their money out of the taxing countries—and, perhaps worst of all, it didn’t raise much revenue.

Lest you think that this precedent would prevent socialists like Warren and the Labourites from initiating such a tax, you don’t know much about Socialism — where history (especially of failure) is always brushed aside with the airy comment of “But this time, we’ll do it better!”

After the loathsome Emma Reynolds’s little aside, that roaring you hear will be the sound of more (taxable) private jets being readied for takeoff on one-way flights out of the UK — although it should be noted that the roaring has been going on ever since Labour was returned to power last year.